Marquez and Miller take championship battle to Sepang

Following a breathtaking race in Australia on Sunday Moto3™ World Championship leader Alex Marquez will again do battle with his closest rival in the standings, Jack Miller, this weekend at Sepang.

The third race in an intense three week ‘flyaway’ triple header after Japan and Australia, the 2014 Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix gives Marquez another opportunity to edge closer to the title before he moves up to Moto2™ next season.

Estrella Galicia 0,0 rider Marquez holds a 20-point advantage at the head of the standings with two races remaining and he is in fine form, having taken five podiums from the last five races.

However, with his determined performance and spectacular home win at Phillip Island Miller has revived the title fight. The Australian Red Bull KTM Ajo rider’s triumph over Marquez by just 0.029s on home territory was his first victory in seven races and it sets up an exciting season finale.

In third place in the standings and in third position in the Phillip Island race by just 0.032s from Miller – Alex Rins is still mathematically in with a title shout. He now trails his teammate Marquez by 41 points with 50 still up for grabs at the final two rounds at Sepang and Valencia.

Last year in Malaysia Rins was on the podium in second place behind winner Luis Salom, with Marquez fourth in the race and Miller sixth. All three will be aiming for nothing less than maximum points this time around, with Marquez unlikely to cruise just for a podium result despite his cushion at the top.

Fourth in the 2014 Moto3™ standings going into the penultimate round is SaxoPrint-RTG rider Efren Vazquez who was also a protagonist on Sunday in Australia. He crossed the line 0.044s behind Miller and is now mathematically out of the title hunt, though he could still affect the destiny of the World Championship crown in the last two races.

Likewise for the rider in fifth place in the standings - Romano Fenati (SKY Racing Team VR46) - who crashed out late on at Phillip Island when also chasing the victory.